Unemployment benefits story (sympathy or sob)

The maximum federal unemployment tax that would be paid on behalf of any worker is $56 per year. State rates and maximums vary wildly. In Massachusetts it maxes out at 10.96% and isn't levied on wages in excess of $14,000. It's hard to get a feel for what might be the maximum absolute annual levies, but it's probably only a few hundred dollars at most.

 

In Canada you max out at about 740 per year, thsi takes aprox 43 grand to do. Your weeks allowed are tied to the amount of hours you've worked in that year. Maternity allows the mother to be off a year.

 

I believe any extensions are completely paid for by the federal government though.

 

For those concerned about the amount of premiums paid in by any one employee:

If your home burns down, do you believe that your benefit should max out at the amount of p & c premiums you've paid? Insurance 101: A lot of people pay in small amounts, so that those who incur the insured risk can receive a significant benefit.

 

Let 'em cut the benefits. Just do it. Bring the pain to the surface. We're fucked up in our priorities as a nation, so we might as well just go full bore ahead and stop pretending.

 

I was trying to point out that this is an insurance pool that we pay into -- not welfare.

 

If it makes you feel any better, Junkie, a fair number of people who come to my church's homeless shelter have low-paying jobs.

 

If it's just insurance, when do the rates go up to reflect the true risk?

 

Everybody here knows that to collect "unemployment," you have to have lost a job, right?

 

Yeah, I really don't see how anyone could have a strong opinion here. I obviously don't want to see people using their unemployment check as a reason to not aggressively pursue work (my own dipshit cousin collected unemployment for 11 months, the first 9 of which she never bothered looking for a job. She called it "funemployment")

At the same time, there aren't any jobs out there in a lot of sectors. I think those of us in newspapers can empathize with that, can't we?

 

Maybe if you went to the stores where people who make $20,000 a year can afford to purchase $72,0000 Escalades and $4,000 52-inch HDTVs, you could stretch your tax dollars further.

 

No worries with you, Ace.

Every time we discuss unemployment, some people have trouble with "insurance". Just like somebody can be counted on to yell "First Amendment!" when a private employer fires some dope who's shot off his mouth.

Just feeling pet-peevish.